System and method for determining a zone of relevance for subscriber location and notification

Abstract

A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating wireless subscribers of interest to a location based application and making a user notification decision including: obtaining application specific information from an application service provider; obtaining wireless subscriber profile and real time information from a serving wireless network operator; accessing a geographical database to extract related geographic information; extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources; determining the value of user notification based on weighting of said extracted information and historical use information; and determining a corresponding zone of relevance wherein notifying the user meets certain criteria for the determined value of notification.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method for determining a zone of relevance for locating a wireless subscriber and making a user notification decision, the method comprising:
 obtaining application specific information from an application service provider; 
 extracting geographic information from a geographical database based on information obtained from the application; 
 obtaining subscriber profile and real time information related to said subscriber from a serving wireless network; 
 retrieving information related to said subscriber's preferences related to said application from an auxiliary subscriber database; 
 extracting relevant dynamic inputs from external sources over a predefined application programming interface; 
 determining a value of the user notification based on weighting of said obtained and extracted information combined with historical use information; 
 determining a zone of relevance for the wireless subscriber based on comparing a notification value-cost ratio to a threshold value; and 
 notifying a user, based on predetermined criteria for a determined value of notification. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the user to be notified is one or more of said wireless subscriber, an application service provider, an enterprise, an affiliate, a different mobile end-user, and an interested third party. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the application is related to one or more of mobile marketing, workforce management, asset tracking, transportation management, emergency alerting, banking, fraud detection, social networking, and family or friend tracking. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the geographic database comprises information about area morphology and density, demographics, points of interest to the application, traffic patterns, and climate. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the subscriber information obtained from the wireless network comprises subscriber identification information, subscriber's presence on the network, subscriber's roaming status, its wireless device capabilities, wireless device type, wireless services to which it is subscribed to and able to use, and billing information. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the dynamic inputs extracted from external sources comprise relevant information from one or more of a designated affiliate of the application service provider, an information aggregator, a web services portal, a weather service, a traffic service, and a third party with relevant information to the user to be notified. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the auxiliary subscriber database contains the subscriber's key addresses, interests, habits, income category and preferences. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the subscriber preferences comprise a chosen method to consent to being located, constraints on the location, and preferred notification methods. 
     
     
       9. A computer-implemented method for deciding whether and how to notify a user, the method comprising:
 determining that a wireless subscriber is within a zone of relevance; 
 determining applicable notification methods based on application-specific information obtained from an application service provider, wireless subscriber profile information and real time information obtained from a wireless network, and information from a geographic database; 
 determining the costs of said applicable notification methods; 
 performing a value-cost comparison by comparing the notification value-cost ratio to a predetermined threshold; 
 making a decision to notify the user based on the value-cost comparison; 
 selecting a notification method with highest value to cost ratio; and 
 using the selected notification method to notify the user. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the user is one or more of said wireless subscriber, an application service provider, an enterprise, an affiliate, a different mobile end-user, and an interested third party. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the information obtained from the wireless network comprises subscriber identification information, presence of the subscriber on the network, the subscriber's roaming status, its wireless device capabilities, wireless services to which it is subscribed to and able to use, and billing information. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the wireless network is one or more of Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, and wherein available wireless location methods are one or more of cell ID, enhanced cell ID, signal strength, WiFi proximity, network based triangulation, standalone GPS, and assisted GPS. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 9 , wherein multiple thresholds are used simultaneously to decide about delivery of differentiated types of notifications to users of the same application and for the same triggering event. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the notification is to multiple users of the same application via multiple notification methods, depending on determined costs and applicability to said users. 
     
     
       15. A computer-implemented method for deciding whether and how to locate a mobile subscriber, the method comprising:
 determining applicable location determination methods within a zone of relevance based on application specific information obtained from an application service provider, information from a wireless network serving the subscriber, and information extracted from a geographic database; 
 determining applicable notification methods within the zone of relevance; 
 determining costs associated with the applicable location determination and notification methods; 
 performing a notification value-cost comparison by comparing a notification value-cost ratio to a threshold; 
 making a user notification decision; and 
 determining a location determination quality and update requirement for the mobile subscriber commensurate with the decision whether to notify or not notify a user. 
 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the mobile subscriber to be located is different from the user. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the applicable mobile subscriber location methods comprise one or more of cell ID, enhanced cell ID, signal strength, WiFi proximity, network based triangulation, standalone GPS, and assisted GPS. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the applicable mobile subscriber location methods use real time location determination or cached location from a prior location attempt. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the determined mobile subscriber location quality and update requirement results in corresponding querying of a serving wireless network and logging of returned location result for subsequent use. 
     
     
       20. The method of  claim 15 , wherein the logged location result for the mobile subscriber is fed back to update the determined location determination quality and update requirement and the zone of relevance.